


and the road not taken looks real good now

by adiwriting



Series: Heartbeat [1]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Background Isobel Evans, Kid Fic, M/M, Michael Guerin being dad shaped, Mpreg, but the verse will, so i'm tagging it early, so nobody gets attached and needs to duck out, this fic doesn't have mpreg in it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29644545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adiwriting/pseuds/adiwriting
Summary: After four and a half years, the last place Alex expects to run into Michael Guerin is at the supermarket. And he certainly doesn't expect him to have a child.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Heartbeat [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178315
Comments: 52
Kudos: 121





	and the road not taken looks real good now

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ALovelyLitwit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALovelyLitwit/gifts).



> This fic is part of a larger verse I'm going to start telling, where Michael gets pregnant during the lost decade and ends up having a baby girl. It's Alex's... but Alex doesn't know that. While I'm not 100% certain where I plan to take the story plot-wise, I wanted to post some snippets for the fic in honor of Brooke's birthday week! Because Brooke is one of my very best fandom friends and I realized it was not enough to simply honor her with one fic on her birthday, but rather I wanted to celebrate the whole week with little nuggets of joy. And what's more joyful than thinking about a verse were Malex get to be dads?

Alex is wandering aimlessly through the grocery store, knowing that he needs to stock up his new place with groceries and real food, but overwhelmed with the idea of cooking anything that doesn’t involve simply turning on the oven and pulling something out of the freezer. For nearly a year, he’s lived off of mess hall food and take out. Between his deployment then his long recovery, he hasn’t been on his own for awhile. And even before then, he has never really enjoyed cooking. He can make a mean frozen pizza, but that’s about it. 

But part of his recovery is taking better care of himself physically and that starts with eating healthier. So here he is, wandering the aisles of the grocery store without a real plan. Throwing random stuff into a cart that he hopes he can turn into a meal somehow. And that’s when he sees him. 

At first, it’s just a flash of curly hair and flannel out of the corner of his eye, but it’s enough to get his attention. When he turns his head, however, the man is gone. He tells himself that it could be anybody. That plenty of people have curly hair. That Michael moved away years ago and the likelihood that he’s back is slim. Still, Alex backtracks to look down the cereal aisle and there’s no mistaking that the man he sees is 100% Michael Guerin. 

He’s grown up. His shoulders fill his flannel a bit more. There is scruff on his face. His hair is a bit longer than when Alex saw him last, which was four and a half years ago. Longer but better maintained. Fuck. He looks good. Like, really good. Time has done him a lot of favors. His eyes roam down his body, lingering on the torn jeans and the way they hug his hips. 

His heart skips several beats and his mind instantly reminds him of days spent in the back of Michael’s old truck out in the middle of the desert, far away from the world, listening to music together while they explored each other’s bodies. He licks his lips unconsciously. 

Alex debates with himself over whether he should go over and say hi. It’s been a long time. Surely Michael would be as happy to see him as Alex is to see him? Then again, things had been said the last time they were together. Things neither of them can ever take back. 

He’s broken out of his thoughts when he realizes that Michael isn’t alone. He’s leaning over to take a box of cereal out of a little girl’s hand and putting it back on the shelf. The girl is little. Alex isn’t around enough kids to be able to accurately guess how old, but she’s young. Pre-school perhaps? She’s got sun kissed curly hair that is piled on top of her head that gives him pause. But it’s not until he sees the annoyed expression on her face that it really hits Alex. 

She’s Michael’s. Like, undeniably so. From her hair, to her nose, right down to the scowl on her face, she’s a mini-version of Michael. 

Michael is a father. 

Alex should probably look away and continue shopping. Or go up and say hello. He should pretty much do anything but continue to stare at the man that he used to be in love with and his daughter like some kind of stalker. But he can’t look away, nor can he get his body to move. 

He watches as Michael’s daughter argues with him over some sugary cereal until he eventually puts it in the cart and the whole thing is just so domestic that his heart twists and pulls. He bites his lips and tries not to think about how many times he’s pictured a future like this for himself. Specifically this. A future with Michael. A  _ family _ with Michael. Something real and whole and better than either of them had growing up. 

The girl hugs her stuffed animal to her chest — some dog in what looks like a space suit — and smiles up at Michael, and even her smile looks like him. Alex can’t hardly remember the last time he saw Michael smile. Like really, genuinely smile. The last several times he saw Michael, passions would always run high, ultimately leading to them falling into bed together, but rarely were either of them truly satisfied emotionally. Never were their moments together enough to experience real joy. But Michael is smiling back at his daughter now with nothing but love and affection. And Alex is happy for him. He is. It’s what Michael deserves. 

Michael takes the girl’s hand and pushes the cart in the opposite direction. When they turn the corner, Alex finally takes a breath. His eyes are watery for some unknown reason and he has to blink several times just so that he can see straight. When he moved back to town, there was a small part of him that hoped he would see Michael. That wished for it… He knew the reunion was coming up and thought maybe he’d run into him there. But he hadn’t mentally prepared himself to run into Michael at the grocery store of all places. Hell if he had, he’d have worn more than his gross USAF sweatpants. And he certainly hadn’t expected to run into Michael and his kid. 

It’s crazy. He can’t wrap his mind around it. Because in his mind, Michael is still 17 years old, sitting on the tailgate, playing his guitar. Alex mindlessly follows after Michael without realizing he’s doing so. He reaches the end of the aisle and there is Michael again, holding the little girl up so that she can see the different flavors of yogurt on the top shelf. 

“M-M-Ms pease,” the little girl says with a clear lisp, pointing to a package of yogurt. 

“Uh no,” Michael says. “Pick something with a fruit in it.” 

God, it’s been years since he heard that voice. Even longer since he heard it filled with such affection. It draws him in like a magnet while paralyzing him all the same. 

“How about strawberry?” Michael asks, pointing at one of the packages. 

The little girl glares at him and the expression is one he’s seen on Michael’s face before, it’s insane. “I no wike waberry,” she whines. 

“Well you can’t live on sugar alone, kiddo.” The little girl sighs deeply before resting her head against Michael’s shoulder. He rubs at her back and says, “I know you’re tired baby. Just a few more minutes okay?” 

He sounds like such a dad, which is hardly surprising. Alex has always known that Michael would be a good dad. He’s known it in his bones. It’s why it’s been so easy to fantasize about a future family together. Part of him worries that he’s finally lost his mind and this is all just one vivid hallucination that his mind has supplied for him.

Somebody brushes past him to grab something off of the shelf and Alex ducks his head to hide an embarrassed blush. He’s sure that he looks like a stalker by this point, and yet, he can’t bring himself to look away. His eyes go to Michael’s left hand, looking for a ring, but he can’t see anything. The little girl’s dress is covering it. 

Michael grabs two boxes of GoGurt and puts them in his cart before pushing it further down the aisle. Hoping the move looks casual, Alex pushes his own cart after Michael, tossing a few random items into the cart along the way so if anyone is watching they’ll think he’s still shopping. The little girl rubs her eyes as Michael grabs a few more items for them. 

“We’ll go home soon, Baby,” Michael promises. 

Baby. Alex heard that whispered into his own ear so many times that he can almost feel Michael’s warm breath against his ear. 

“I wanna pizza,” the girl says through a yawn, the dog slipping through her fingers and falling to the floor. Alex is about to help, figuring it’s a sign that he should make a move, when somebody else rushes up and grabs the dog off the floor and hands it to her. 

“Oops, can’t drop Laika! Who would you sleep with?” a woman says. And when Alex follows that hand all the way up to see who it belongs to, he sees Isobel Evans. She places several bottles of wine in the cart. “Are you guys nearly ready?” 

“Yeah, just need to grab her vitamins and we are good,” Michael says. 

The way that Isobel’s hand makes its way to the little girl’s back is so maternal that Alex finally turns away. He leaves his cart where it is and walks out of the store, holding back tears as he realizes that, while he’d been busy daydreaming about a future, Michael went and got one for himself.


End file.
